The Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function in Tropical Agriculture (BEFTA) Programme
The BEFTA Programme investigates management strategies to support biodiversity and ecosystem processes in oil palm landscapes. The overall aim of the BEFTA Programme is to test whether increasing landscape structural complexity can enhance oil palm sustainability at little or no cost to yields and profitability. Uniquely, the BEFTA Programme is a collaboration between universities, research institutes, and the oil palm industry, ensuring that management practices are realistic and implementable by land managers.
A cuckoo’s nest
One of the most distinctive and common birds in the plantation is the Greater Caucal (Centropus sinensis). These dapper birds, with jet black bodies and russet wings, resemble ungainly crows but are actually a member of the cuckoo family. I often see adults foraging for insects among the palm fronds…
Ant raft
There’s been quite a lot of flooding in the plantations over the last week, so some of our survey work has involved splashing through pools of water and wading our way across former paths! The flooding does have some advantages though. For a start there are even more dragonflies than…